LA has done a lot of great things for team this year, with his vast improvement on the rebounding side being the biggest. However, with LA leading the league in shots and posting a career low fg% and true shooting % one has to wonder how many shots are too many for LA? Personally 30 would be fine with me if half were in the paint or on the low block. This is his shot chart the last 30 days as you can see his percentages are generally much higher in the painted area. However, only about 35% of his fga are coming from there. If LA could increase his fga to around a 50/50 split I am sure his fg% would once again approach 50% and he would likely be attempting around 8 free throws per game instead of 5.5. With a near 50/50 split LA would be averaging probably 26-28 a game and Portland would be a much bigger threat in the playoffs. Keep feeding LA just make sure it is more on the low block and paint and less 20 foot jumpers.
Yes he does and because he takes so many his true shooting percentage is well below league average. The issue is not should LA take jump shots because he needs to the issue is a 20 ft jumper from LA the best shot our offense can generate. Personally for us to be a success in the playoffs we cannot live off LA shooting 20 foot jumpers we need to be able to get easy baskets. Getting LA on the block and on the free throw line will do just that. He has stepped up as the teams leader now he just needs to make a few adjustments.
He's talking about a thread started by Brianfromwa that hammered on this very fact and turned into a huge flame fest.
I think there were two threads, weren't there? One asking why we aren't on the LA bandwagon, and one from Brian about LA's shot selection.
BrianfromWA started posting in multiple threads about LMA's propensity for shooting a certain shot, regardless of if the thread was about LMA. I just learned tonight that LMA shoots jump shots, though. Also, is everybody else getting a broken image in the OP? I can't see the shot chart that shows me how LMA shoots jump shots, which I did not know until this thread.
Now you know, and knowing is... [video=youtube;pele5vptVgc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pele5vptVgc[/video]
One thing to consider is that he may not be as successful if he goes into the paint more often. I think he is trying to keep the defense off balance, if he is making jump shots they have to play up close to him and he has a better chance to go to the basket. However if he could dish off more when going to the basket, more attempts at the basket might be successful for the team overall.
I guess I'll throw this link in just to stir things up, it's a little boring since BF left... http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/lamarcus-aldridge-is-overrated
This is called data mining, and BrianfromWa does it a lot as well. It's fun and people think it is "analysis", but the truth is that no conclusions can be made because it is far from complete. For example, sure it would be great if LMA would only take 20 dunks per game. Why doesn't he do that? His EFG% would go up, it seems obvious that he should only take 20 dunks per game. The answer probably is related to the fact that the defense won't give those up. Banging in the low block all game is tiring and can take a toll on a player throughout a game and an NBA season. The point is that we don't really know if his effectiveness would go up from where it is now.
Thank you. As I've said in earlier threads on this tired subject, you don't get to pick where you shoot from every possession. If we could do that, we wouldn't even need LMA. I'd just tee up Wes for three every time down. That's what the beloved numbers tell you is the best course of action. Damn teams and their defense, not allowing us to maximize our eFG.
